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UP - Illinois River Lift Bridge

Tazewell County, Illinois, and Peoria County, Illinois

Photos 

Looking downstream at the bridge from Pekin

Photo taken by Nathan Morton in Sept. 07

Enlarge

BH Photo #127568

Map 

Facts 

Overview
Vertical lift through truss bridge over Illinois River on Union Pacific Railroad in Pekin
Location
Pekin, Tazewell County, Illinois, and Peoria County, Illinois
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1912; North Approach Added 1934
Builders
- King Bridge Co. of Cleveland, Ohio
- Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Co. of Leavenworth, Kansas
- S.G. Cool of Chicago, Illinois (1934 Substructure)
Railroads
- Chicago & North Western Railway (CNW)
- Union Pacific Railroad (UP)
Design
Through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 175.0 ft.
Total length: 1,508.0 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+40.55433, -89.67547   (decimal degrees)
40°33'16" N, 89°40'32" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/273466/4492725 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Pekin
Inventory number
BH 38086 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Built 1912 (895)
Built during 1910s (10,183)
Chicago & North Western Railway (1,471)
County line crossing (535)
Illinois (5,039)
Illinois River (63)
King Bridge Co. (466)
Lattice through truss (786)
Lattice truss (823)
Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Co. (132)
Movable (3,178)
Navigable waterway (2,239)
Open (41,354)
Owned by railroad (13,998)
 Pekin, Illinois (9)
Peoria County, Illinois (93)
Pratt through truss (6,370)
Pratt truss (10,776)
Quadrangular lattice through truss (192)
S.G. Cool (1)
Span Drive Vertical Lift (90)
Span length 175-250 feet (2,118)
Tazewell County, Illinois (89)
Through truss (18,586)
Total length 1000-2500 feet (2,045)
Truss (37,778)
Union Pacific Railroad (2,504)
Vertical lift (432)

Update Log 

  • July 24, 2022: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
  • March 3, 2020: New photos from Luke
  • November 3, 2016: New photo from Douglas Butler
  • April 22, 2016: New photos from Steve Conro
  • December 14, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Updated entry with dates
  • November 14, 2008: Added by Nathan Morton

Sources 

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Comments 

UP - Illinois River Lift Bridge
Posted March 3, 2020, by Tim (springfieldbridges [at] gmail [dot] com)

photo of bridge shortly after construction, note falsework still in place in river truss span! Classic C&NW lattice trusses.

UP - Illinois River Lift Bridge
Posted March 3, 2020, by Tim (springfieldbridges [at] gmail [dot] com)

Plan and Elevation from 1914 article on construction

UP - Illinois River Lift Bridge
Posted March 3, 2020, by Tim (springfieldbridges [at] gmail [dot] com)

I sent you an article on the construction of this bridge. I will see if I can look up the C&NW Bridge #

UP - Illinois River Lift Bridge
Posted April 10, 2017, by John Marvig (marvigj27 [at] gmail [dot] com)

Steve,

How did you get these beautiful photos of this structure?